


the sweet lullaby of betrayal

by fireyicegirl



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: i wrote this when i was really sad, so its sad, tony and betrayal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-27 04:52:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15678390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireyicegirl/pseuds/fireyicegirl
Summary: it’s funny how sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for are the ones behind the trigger.





	the sweet lullaby of betrayal

Tony Stark was no stranger to betrayal. He didn’t have enough fingers on both hands to count the number of times someone had betrayed him. Betrayal had become a normal part of Tony’s life.

There were all the people who got something from Tony, whether it be information he had spewed out when blackout drunk or photos of him passed out naked with a group of strangers. There was such a large number of people who had done Tony wrong.

There had been Obadiah, who Tony had considered a family member. He would’ve gone so far as to say a second father figure. He had stayed by Tony’s side, helping him with the company and dealing with the board members. Tony would have trusted Obie with his life. 

Until Obadiah tried to take Tony’s life away from him. Twice.

First in Afghanistan, where he had hired people to kill Tony. Second in his own home, by stealing his arc reactor right out of his chest, right out from under his nose. Third when he found out Obadiah had been dealing under the table, right behind his back. Fourth when Obadiah had tried to kill Tony once and for all. 

Tony felt no remorse when thinking of Obadiah’s death. 

There had been Steve, whom Tony had looked up to since he was a young boy. Growing up, hearing those stories and the proud tone in which his father’s voice took to when speaking about him, he had high expectations of the man who left no soldier behind, the man who cared more about his country than about whether or not he himself survived. 

And then Steve had insulted Tony to his face, had sat there and judged Tony before even really getting to know him, had not even given Tony a chance. Tony had felt betrayed by a man he had never known, yet felt he had known. Clearly, he hadn’t.

The second time Steve betrayed Tony was during the accords. Steve had refused to cooperate. Insisting that signing the Accords was signing over their freedom to choose. What he didn’t understand was that there was no freedom anymore. Not in the world they were living in. 

He had run, with the Winter Soldier. A man accused of a murder he did not commit. Tony had realized his mistake. But the real mistake was going to find them.

Steve had kept the knowledge of Tony’s parents’ deaths, no, their murders, from Tony. And for what? To protect his friend?

Tony had been Steve's friend.

Tony didn’t speak to Steve after he put a hole in his Iron Man armor.

The first time he was betrayed by the Avengers was the last time he was betrayed by anyone. 

They had needed to get the soul stone. It had been the only way they saw to defeat Thanos once and for all. What they didn’t plan for, however, was the consequence of gaining possession of the stone. The sacrifice of someone you love. 

A soul for a soul.

Tony had offered himself up first. He had spent his entire life living while others died for him and he had decided it was going to stop. He was going to have Pepper kill him, so she could gain possession of the soul stone. She was the only one who loved him, after all. 

But Strange, Strange had gone behind his back, convinced Pepper to get Tony to push her off the cliff, to unknowingly kill the one person who loved him in this cruel, cruel world. 

And it had worked. 

Strange had masked Pepper as Obadiah. She had taunted him in his voice, getting him riled up at a ghost, and eventually, Tony pushed her off the cliff. It wasn’t until he looked to the bottom of the abyss and saw Pepper’s lifeless body that he realized what they had done. 

And he went silent. Oh, he went deadly silent.

He did not speak to the Red Skull when it handed him the soul stone, nor did he speak to the rest of the Avengers when they tried to reason with him. 

“ _This was the only way, Tony._ ”

No, it wasn’t.

“ _We needed you more, Tony._ ”

Tony needed Pepper more. 

“Tony, we’re sorry. _”_

__

__

No. No they weren’t. They had the stone and that was all that mattered. 

What happened to ‘we don’t trade lives’?

And during the final fight, Tony fought with all he had. He didn’t hold back, he didn’t communicate with his ‘team’, he just fought and fought and fought because even if he died, there was no one who would be affected by his death. There was no longer anyone to go home to, no reason to truly fight, in Tony’s eyes.

And so when all had been said and done, Thanos had beaten the rest of his so-called team down, to where they were not dead but defeated, able to watch Thanos win not only the battle but the war. 

And Thanos had left Tony alive, and able to continue kicking. 

“I have seen your soul, Stark,” Thanos said. “It is full of repressed anger.”

“Yeah, so? Isn’t everyone’s?” Tony quipped.

“You have been betrayed by many, by people you called friends,” Tony glanced over at the Avengers, laying on the ground, “and yet you remain by their sides. Why is that?”

“I don’t have to explain shit to you.” Tony snarled, arming his repulsors to continue this hopeless fight. Continue fighting a war they were destined to lose.

“Tell me, Stark, do you want to punish those who have wronged you?”

“I— What?”

“You want what I want. You want those who have wronged you to suffer as they have made you suffer.” Thanos said as if stating a fact.

Tony was speechless for the first time in his life. He could not deny the words Thanos was speaking, he could not say they were not true. He knew somewhere deep down, that yes, he wanted to hurt those who had hurt him. 

But he also knew that was not the way to go about things. He knew that was wrong. But Tony also knew he had nothing to go back to. His home was not a home. His life was not one worth living. He was the man who had everything and yet nothing at all. 

“ _Don’t waste your life,_ ” Yinsen had said to him. 

He still wasn’t sure if he had wasted it. He wasn’t sure if he hadn’t. But he knew damn well he would be if he took Thanos’s offer. 

“Yeah, yeah, I do. So does everyone else in the world. It doesn’t make you fucking special,” Tony spat. “But that’s not how you deal with shit, making others hurt just because you were hurt doesn’t fix anything, but you wouldn’t know that, would you? Since you’ve always hurt those who hurt you, hell, you hurt those who didn’t do _shit_ to you. You know what that makes you? A monster. And I’m not going to join you in being one.”

Thanos laughed humorlessly. “I am not a monster, Stark, I have become a god.”

“I didn’t realize gods could be so dim, then,” Tony said. “Have fun in hell.”

Tony’s suit retracted from his body, and nanotech speeding across and hitting Thanos square in the chest, his suit forming around the villain.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., activate protocol five three eight two,” Tony said, stepping closer to the suit. 

“Activating Self Destruct Protocol.” The AI spoke from inside the suit. 

“Stark— ”

“Say hi to dad for me,” Tony said, still standing far too close to the suit. He didn’t know if it was on purpose or not, whether he was actively putting himself in danger or if it was an unconscious thing.

He vaguely remembers hearing the Avengers calling out his name. Saying he was too close to the suit. Begging him to get to safety. He paid them no mind, listening to F.R.I.D.A.Y. countdown the seconds until the suit would explode, listening to Thanos’s yells and attempts to claw the suit off of him. Tony’s nanotech was stronger than a being who believed himself to be a god.

Maybe this was their punishment. 

And then the explosion happened. A flash of light and color and metal tearing through Tony’s body. Maybe this was the perfect way to go, the way he should have gone a decade ago. This time there was no saving him this time. Maybe that was how he wanted it. 

He was just a man whose can became his demise. How poetic.

He was laying on the ground, fighting the urge to go to sleep. Even after everything, after all the wrongs they had done him, he still wanted to be sure his team was safe before he left them for good.

He didn’t know how long he lay there, his eyes as heavy as his chest, gasping for air that barely filled his chest. 

He heard footsteps crunching on the ground. He opened his eyes and looked up at his team. 

It was remnant of their first battle as a team. What a perfect way to end their last. 

“What happened?” Tony asked in a raspy voice, the lights growing dim. 

“We— We won,” Steve said, his voice full of relief.

“What did it cost?” Tony asked, closing his eyes and finally surrendering to the tiredness of his body. It was finally time for him to get a good night’s sleep. Light burst in front of his eyes, and he wondered if everything he endured, everything he did was worth it.

Tony Stark was no stranger to betrayal. 

He was betrayal’s friend. 

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this when i was very sad so i apologize
> 
> let me know what you think??


End file.
